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Nothing says Christmas like a killer Santa Claus! “…And All Through the House” is just one highly effective tale from the five-story anthology film from Amicus, Tales from the Crypt (1972.) The characters in each one of them get what’s coming to them, whether it’s because they’re husband killers, wife cheaters, greedy real estate investors,…
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I was pacing the floor at Collinwood when Maggie entered. She told me she had left Amy playing at the Old House. Then she realized there was something I didn’t know. Mrs. Stoddard had hired her to replace Vicki; she was going to be taking care of Amy. I told Maggie that would be great…
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We never learn how or why the spirit of a Japanese samurai is haunting a rural home in Wisconsin of all places, but if you can accept the fact that it simply is happening, the rest of Blood Beat (1983) somehow seems a little less wacky. Writer/director/editor/co-composer Fabrice-Ange Zaphiratos came to Chicago from his native France in the late…
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My furry alter ego must love to crash through windows. As I had done at the Blue Whale, that’s exactly what I did at Joe’s home after spotting him inside. He put up a good fight, wrestling and knocking into furniture. At one point, I hit him with a chair, but he got up and…
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The combination was inevitable. By the time Christine (1983) was released, directors such as Brian DePalma, Tobe Hooper, Stanley Kubrick, and David Cronenberg had made adaptations of Stephen King novels. Although he considered it “a job” and not a personal project like his previous films, John Carpenter took his turn with King. (Interestingly, he was…
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I looked out the window, then looked at myself in the mirror. I paced impatiently. I finally picked up the phone and asked the operator to dial Collinwood. Barnabas Collins answered, but when I asked to speak to Dr. Hoffman, he told me it wasn’t possible for her to come to the phone. He asked…
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The running time for The Unliving (2004) aka Tomb of the Werewolf is 95 minutes; however, if you fast forward through what Wikipedia calls “adult sex scenes bordering on softcore pornography,” you can watch it in, I’m estimating, no longer than 75 minutes. First, if these scenes “border” on soft core, what does it take…
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That girl in the bar… that girl… every time I think of her… tomorrow night the moon will be full. I can’t let it happen again. I can’t. Joe interrupted my thoughts by knocking on my door. I let him in and we exchanged pleasantries. He asked how I was and, when I said, “I’m…
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Before I’m accused of false advertising, I’m a completist and will include Mystery on Monster Island (1981) in Naschy November, no matter how small his part. However, I didn’t realize how small his part was going to be. It’s a cameo in the true sense of the word, appearing in the first scene of the…
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Jeff and Richard return to correct a wrong (the “lost” Karloff episode) by recording a brand new retrospective of the life and films of the classic horror legend, Boris Karloff. Among all the “hot takes,” they dive deeper into two films: Frankenstein (1931) and Curse of the Crimson Altar, aka The Crimson Cult (1968.) Richard…